Cell phone for a second grader

Banty wrote:
In article , Beth Kevles
says...


Hi --

I'd consider getting one of the pre-paid ones so that you don't open
yourself up to high charges if it gets lost, stolen, borrowed or
misused.


Arrgh.

Why does a seven year old need a cell phone?

Banty


A seven year old doesn't NEED a cell phone. For convenience though I
see no reason for them not to have one within certain parameters. We
have talked about getting DD8 one but haven't got around to it. When we
do it will be mainly for emergencies. She goes with my parents on
occasion and they don't have (and don't want) a cell phone. This way we
could still contact her. Also if we are out somewhere and she were to
get separated from us all she would have to do is call.

Like I said though there needs to be restrictions. (Do they have net
nannies for cell phones?) A friend just told me that his 12 year old
racked up $200 in overages with text messages. He was livid. I don't
think DD even knows what a text message is. Dh has it on his phone but
I don't so she doesn't see them much.

Donna Metler wrote:

How many activities is a 2nd grade involved in where the parent isn't going
to be taking them and picking them up (or arranging a carpool to do so?)


Not that I think a 2nd grader *needs* a phone, but ...
What if the picking-up parent is unavoidably and unexpectedly delayed
due to traffic or a flat tire?

"Nan" wrote in message
news
Probably not very many. Although, a lot of the people that live in
our area do not have land lines in their homes. If my child needed to
call home she'd need to have her own phone available to her.


/laughs
and around here cell phones are virtually useless as reception is, ahem,
limited at best due to the little bumps in the land! Maybe text msgs to the
desk across the aisle but not much more in much of the state!

-Aula, in Vermont

On Mon, 10 Sep 2007 14:47:53 -0400, "Aula"
wrote:

/laughs
and around here cell phones are virtually useless as reception is, ahem,
limited at best due to the little bumps in the land! Maybe text msgs to the
desk across the aisle but not much more in much of the state!

-Aula, in Vermont

I know reception around here can be spotty. I have a prepaid Virgin
Mobile phone that doesn't work in certain spots in my house. It gets
the best reception outdoors, so I'm happy to keep my land line.

Nan

On Mon, 10 Sep 2007 13:28:24 -0500, Rose Garten
wrote:

Like I said though there needs to be restrictions. (Do they have net
nannies for cell phones?) A friend just told me that his 12 year old
racked up $200 in overages with text messages. He was livid. I don't
think DD even knows what a text message is. Dh has it on his phone but
I don't so she doesn't see them much.

Prepaid, prepaid, prepaid. If they use up the minutes or set amount,
the phone won't work until more $$ are added to it. I'd never
consider giving a pre-teen a cellphone that can have the bill racked
up like that.

Nan

On Sep 10, 2:15 pm, Nan wrote:

How many activities is a 2nd grade involved in where the parent isn't going
to be taking them and picking them up (or arranging a carpool to do so?)

Probably not very many. Although, a lot of the people that live in
our area do not have land lines in their homes. If my child needed to
call home she'd need to have her own phone available to her.

Nan-

Do you mean the situation where your child was at a friend's house and
this friend had no land line? Is this a situation where the friend's
family
had chosen to have cell phones instead of land lines? Then couldn't
your child ask to
use one of those phones if she needed to call home? Or did you mean
the family has no phones at all? Would a child, age 7, be going to
a friend's house by herself without a parent knowing in advance and
making arrangements?

My kids are older and I got them phones when they reached high
school. But there was never a situation in their grade school days
when they could have used a cell phone. They were always at
school or in the after-school program or at some pre-arranged
activity where there were adults. Cell phones were not widely
used then and there were times when it would have helped if
I or my ex had cell phones but not the kids.

I think if my kids were younger, now that cell phones are
much more widely available, I still wouldn't get them phones
before age 13 or so.

-- Zip

In article , Laura Faussone
says...

Donna Metler wrote:

How many activities is a 2nd grade involved in where the parent isn't going
to be taking them and picking them up (or arranging a carpool to do so?)


Not that I think a 2nd grader *needs* a phone, but ...
What if the picking-up parent is unavoidably and unexpectedly delayed
due to traffic or a flat tire?

What said parent would do any other time - communicate with the adult who has
charge of the child! Who will have a cell phone.

Look, I'm not really totally against cell phones for seven year olds - it's not
the end of the world.

But a seven year old should be in the company of some responsible adult by
arrangement anyway, one who will almost certainly have a phone and *should* be
known to the parent. A seven year old will likely lose the phone, a seven year
old should be only in venues like school, and after school activities where cell
phones are discouraged or even banned to remove their distraction.

This is before they have a clue about money, this is before they're
independantly going to any activities. It's only about parents worrying over
extreme circumstances.

Banty

In article .com, Zipadee
says...

On Sep 10, 2:15 pm, Nan wrote:

How many activities is a 2nd grade involved in where the parent isn't going
to be taking them and picking them up (or arranging a carpool to do so?)

Probably not very many. Although, a lot of the people that live in
our area do not have land lines in their homes. If my child needed to
call home she'd need to have her own phone available to her.

Nan-

Do you mean the situation where your child was at a friend's house and
this friend had no land line? Is this a situation where the friend's
family
had chosen to have cell phones instead of land lines? Then couldn't
your child ask to
use one of those phones if she needed to call home?

Exactly. If it's one of the families that have cancelled their land line in
favor of cell phones, the cell phones are the phones the child would use.

Or did you mean
the family has no phones at all? Would a child, age 7, be going to
a friend's house by herself without a parent knowing in advance and
making arrangements?

Very very few families have no phone at all.


My kids are older and I got them phones when they reached high
school. But there was never a situation in their grade school days
when they could have used a cell phone. They were always at
school or in the after-school program or at some pre-arranged
activity where there were adults. Cell phones were not widely
used then and there were times when it would have helped if
I or my ex had cell phones but not the kids.

I think if my kids were younger, now that cell phones are
much more widely available, I still wouldn't get them phones
before age 13 or so.

I'd say in junior high, when they start to do more independant activities.

But a lot of the 'reasons' I see here have more to do with cell phones having so
permeated society that people can't think of anything other than everyone
calling on their cell. Gosh forbid we borrow a phone or rely on the chaparoning
adult's phone.

Banty

On Mon, 10 Sep 2007 12:03:39 -0700, Zipadee
wrote:

Do you mean the situation where your child was at a friend's house and
this friend had no land line? Is this a situation where the friend's
family
had chosen to have cell phones instead of land lines? Then couldn't
your child ask to
use one of those phones if she needed to call home? Or did you mean
the family has no phones at all?

I don't think I'd assume the parents would want my child to use their
cell phone. I wouldn't allow a friend of my dd to use mine, but *I*
would be willing to call, myself. Since I wouldn't assume that there
would be a cell phone available, I'd prefer sending her with one of
her own so there are no issues or problems with calling me.

Would a child, age 7, be going to
a friend's house by herself without a parent knowing in advance and
making arrangements?

Probably not, but I'm not sure where making sure the child has a cell
phone of their own isn't making "arrangements"?

Nan

On 10 Sep 2007 12:34:13 -0700, Banty wrote:


Very very few families have no phone at all.

Of the 5 or so families with kids my dd plays with, 3 have neither a
cell or land line.

Nan